“Ball And Chain” #57 9/5/1970

The first solo record from Tommy James after leaving the Shondells. He departed the band after collapsing on stage several months earlier in Birmingham, Alabama; drug use was suspected. In his autobiography “Me, The Mob, And The Music,” Tommy said he was “encouraged” to get out of NYC at that time by his label’s owner, Morris Levy, amid a Mafia mob war and concerns Tommy could become collateral damage. Levy was, uhhhh, connected, you know.